I just returned from my 2nd trip to St.Croix, Virgin Islands. I brought my
K3 along as a guest.
The K3 was with me on the plane and stored under the seat in front of me in
a nice bag purchased from Rose Kopp (N7HKW).
I brought the radio with me last year and Murphy paid a visit.
The tower at the station that I was using was stuck at 15 feet and the A3S
was stuck on Europe.
Nevertheless, I did make some QSO's on CW, SSB and RTTY.
I was using the station of NP2N.
This year Murphy struck in a different way. I arrived on Thursday, Nov. 3rd
and promptly set got on 10 meters and had a great run into the U.S. and JA
on SSB. I was getting great reports. Loud, 59 plus. I was in heaven.
The tower and rotor had been repaired, so I was FB to operate.
After my nice run on 10, I noticed that I was only putting out 27 watts.
I have a KPA500 at home, which I use and apparently the K3 still remembered
the setting from back home, as it was suppose to.
Then I attempted to up the power to 100 watts and the K3 shut down. I
experimented and the best I could do was somewhere between 30 and 40 watts
depending on band/mode. That's when I received the visit from Murphy. The
power supply (20 amps) in the shack (I did not take one with me) was not
working properly. We tried another PS and had the same problem.
Anyway, with only 30 watts max, I made 1174 QSO's on CW, SSB and RTTY. I did
receive a variety of signal reports. Five nine plus were some of the reports
that I received from Europe. The station is on a hill and when I stand on
the porch, I can see ocean to the north and northeast. From some stations in
England, Finland and further north, I was not so strong. This was on 10 and
15. I operated strictly split.
Obviously, I like the K3. And the old saying that you don't need a ton of
power to work the world is very true. When I got back home, I hooked
everything up and I'm back up to 100 watts again.
Have a nice Thanksgiving, Bob, W1EQ (KP2/W1EQ)
K3, KPA 500 and P3 on order ETA 12/1.
______________________________________________________________
Elecraft mailing list
Home:
http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraftHelp:
http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htmPost: mailto:
[hidden email]
This list hosted by:
http://www.qsl.netPlease help support this email list:
http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Locked
